The "Sugarbush Thread"

[fulgoreXC]

how the hell does mrg have that and jay has 100 inches?

Season "snow totals" are not the same as base. The northern areas have received quite a lot more snow than central or southern mountains. I was up in the Jay area over the weekend. Lot's more snow on the ground than in the valley. But show me a mountain that doesn't round up their snow totals. And "base depths" are largely voodoo bs.

 

[cdskier]

how the hell does mrg have that and jay has 100 inches?

Are you new to VT?

Snowfall totals tend to increase rapidly as you move north along the spine of the Green Mountains. This has been the case for ages...

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

Jay seems to get its own micro weather events that yield snow independent of northern-ness. Not that northern-ness doesn't also help.

But what I've suspected for a few years now (and im not convinced one way or the other) is that the MRV is a bad spot for snow compared to Stowe and Jay (obviously) but also Killington. Storms track north, jay and Stowe get hit, sugarbush gets half as much. Storm tracks south, S.VT and Killington get the jackpot, sugarbush gets skunked. Its just an impression that's formed after years of paying attention somewhat but not super close.
That was why I asked about season totals earlier.

That all said I usually ski where I can meet friends rather than storm chase.

 

[jonnyco14]

I was at Stratton and Killington over the weekend and they had the HKD guns everywhere. How much better are these than some of the older guns? Both of those mountains were blowing double or triple what Sugarbush can blow at one time.

 

[thetrailboss]

I was at Stratton and Killington over the weekend and they had the HKD gun everywhere. How much better are these than some of the older guns? Both of those mountains were blowing double or triple what Sugarbush can blow at one time.

Newpylong could answer this specifically, but in general, each gun type has its pros and cons depending the on the wet bulb temps and the desired type of snow thata resort wants.

 

[Plowboy]

Hammering the snowmaking on Which Way to NRE and the base a ME today!!

 

[cdskier]

I was at Stratton and Killington over the weekend and they had the HKD guns everywhere. How much better are these than some of the older guns? Both of those mountains were blowing double or triple what Sugarbush can blow at one time.

What do you mean by "older guns"? Sugarbush has a mix of both HKD and Sno-logic guns.

Stratton and K both blowing more than SB at a time likely has more to do with air/water capacity at each resort rather than the exact type of Low-E gun being used.

 

[ducky]

More firm hardpack today.

 

[Newpylong]

I was at Stratton and Killington over the weekend and they had the HKD guns everywhere. How much better are these than some of the older guns? Both of those mountains were blowing double or triple what Sugarbush can blow at one time.

That is because Stratton and K have triple the amount of water pumping capacity and exponentially more air, not so much the equipment being used on hill. Sugarbush has all HKD or Snow Logic Low-E basically.

 

[jonnyco14]

I didn't know if the HKDs were better than the snow logics. They seem to be a lot more prevalent more recently (and noticeable with orange color)

 

[tumbler]

They make wet snow because they are told to. Make giant wet piles, push them out and they become the ice base and never to return to that trail.

I figured they would move to GH and get that open for the weekend, there were a surprising amount of beginners and kids out there struggling over the holiday. It would be great if they could get SB-Fling open for the weekend too.

 

[cdskier]

I didn't know if the HKDs were better than the snow logics. They seem to be a lot more prevalent more recently (and noticeable with orange color)

They don't all have orange colored heads. There are plenty of older HKD guns with silver heads.

I think they are definitely better, but in the sense of making better snow and not in the sense of using less water and allowing you to run more at a time.

 

[fulgoreXC]

That is because Stratton and K have triple the amount of water pumping capacity and exponentially more air, not so much the equipment being used on hill. Sugarbush has all HKD or Snow Logic Low-E basically.

Not quite on the water side. Killington only has a pumping capacity of around 6000 gpm. Stratton on the other hand, 10,000 gpm. SB is at 4000. The big difference is air. Like @Newpylong said Killington and Stratton have way more than air capacity. SB only has 4100 cfm of air capacity. They all are now using the same gear. So they can run oodles more guns than SB. For comparison, on Saturday the temps were marginal so all the guns, either mountain, were on stage 1, which is about 14 gpm of water and 54 cfm of air for HKDs and 12 gpm/18cfm for Logics. SB can't keep up during marginal temps.

 

[fulgoreXC]

They make wet snow because they are told to. Make giant wet piles, push them out and they become the ice base and never to return to that trail.

I figured they would move to GH and get that open for the weekend, there were a surprising amount of beginners and kids out there struggling over the holiday. It would be great if they could get SB-Fling open for the weekend too.

Murphy's this weekend looked just like an average day on Downspout. Good to see Gatehouse being lit back up. Given the forecasted temps, the play may be to get ball-fling on by the weekend. But I kinda doubt it. My guess is they spend the week on GH to finish Pushover and get the Slow Poke park in. Then move over to Sleeper. I suppose it'll come down to how much snow they receive from this storm coming.

 

[pinnoke]

More firm hardpack today.

Despite my 'swipe' at today's snow report, I'm glad I chose to go and get some decent runs. I stayed off of OG, and stuck to Jester/Glades/Lower DS/Gondolier. Nicer turns up high, of course; good tech skills practice lower. New snow reporter needs to understand the wind speeds he's reporting are potential isolated gusts. Today was quite calm, and the emerging sun around noon (and minimal crowd!) contributed to better-than-expected skiing. Bring on the snow!

 

[Lotso]

Why? fill me in old wise sage.

The "Jay Cloud" is a thing. Crazy how much snow that peak gets. Just the difference between snowpack in Montgomery and then at the Jay base can be immense.

Jay Cloud explained

 

[Rob Katz]

Why? fill me in old wise sage.

snow grows when it goes - remember that

 

[Smellytele]

The "Jay Cloud" is a thing. Crazy how much snow that peak gets. Just the difference between snowpack in Montgomery and then at the Jay base can be immense.

Jay Cloud explained

Assuming you are expanding what I was saying.

 

[vtski802]

More firm hardpack today.

... Wonder if that's from the guns that have been running super wet. Hmmmmm...

 

[slatham]

Curious what the status of OG, Lower OG, and Downspout are regarding snow making? They done?